Wednesday, February 20, 2013

The White Dawn (1974)

With its colorful cast and
impressive location photography—to say nothing of the admirable use of
indigenous actors and language—The White
Dawn should be engrossing. Set in the late 19th century, the story depicts
what happens when three American whalers become stranded in Eskimo country,
first assimilating into the local culture and then clashing with their Native
hosts. The whalers are played by Timothy Bottoms, Louis Gossett Jr., and Warren
Oates, all of whom are interesting actors, and director Philip Kaufman—helming
only his second big-budget feature—displays his signature interest in sociopolitical
subtleties. Yet not even Kaufman’s ethnographic approach can enliven the dull
and unmemorable storyline, which unfolds in a predictable way and suffers from
a paucity of significant events. Very little about The White Dawn lingers in the memory except for a general wintry
vibe, because while the cinematography is tough and vivid—director of
photography Michael Chapman operates way outside his usual New York milieu, to
impressive effect—the narrative lacks surprises.

Producer Martin Ransohoff, who
also wrote the underlying adaptation of the James Houston novel upon which the
film is based, took a bold route by featuring extensive scenes of Inuit
dialogue, and the fact that most of the cast comprises Eskimo performers gives The White Dawn authenticity other
adventure pictures set in the Great White North lack. Yet one longs for a
storyline as virile as those found in, say, the tales of Jack London. That
said, it’s moderately diverting to watch vignettes of the white characters
reacting to the strangeness of life in the Arctic Circle—as when they’re awoken
by water from the melting ceiling of their igloo—and the picture features a few
informative scenes showing Eskimo rituals. The
White Dawn isn’t a bad film, of course, because it’s using the white
characters as a means of exposing viewers to a rarely seen world, but the tone
runs so close to that of a drably educational documentary that Ransohoff might
have been better off just ditching the fictional contrivance altogether.